Okay, looks good to me. And now we've got a better idea of how this "remixed stages from the old games" thing is going to work. Chemical Plant looks like the same map with substantially different gameplay; I'm impressed. Love the physics on the bouncy goop.

Sonic deserves more attention than I think it gets for the sheer variety of different ways you bounce off shit and how different the feel is of bouncing off different shit. Enemies, yellow springs, red springs, bumpers, balloons, those yellow triangle things up the sides of the walls in Metropolis and the gumball machine, the shield guys, just bouncing off the ground if you've got the bubble shield, bouncing off things when you glide into them as Knuckles; the homing attack is pretty much a "chain bouncing off different shit together" mechanic.

And Whitehead's instincts here are sound. What's the best Sonic zone? Chemical Plant. What's the worst part of it? The fucking water. So not only does he fix the water, but he seems to be taking cues from Shovel Knight to do it. And why wouldn't you? If you're making a 2D platformer after 2014, "play Shovel Knight and fucking take notes" is a pretty important step on your to-do list.

Humble Bundle's currently got $2 off a preorder. I'm gonna wait and see WINE test results, but fingers crossed.

It always struck me as weird that they put the part with the water that drowns you faster than usual as level two.

Made even weirder when the stage with the gimmick of "lots more (regular) water than other stages" is level three.

Anyway, I'm well past ever feeling GET HYPE about Sonic the Hedgehog anymore but yeah this looks pretty solid. I like the giant syringe that lets you change the bouncy chemical to a different bouncy chemical.

There's a western-themed level with "Wanted" posters in the background showing characters like Nack the Weasel and Bean the Dynamite Duck.

"GET HYPE" is overselling it, but I haven't been this optimistic about a Sonic game since Generations.

It's always worth waiting for the reviews to come in, but they're kind of already starting to, with the preview build critics have been playing this week. The guy at Ars said the game's already worth paying $20 for as-is.

Worst-case would be that the remaining levels aren't as good as the ones shown this week and the game comes out uneven. But even if it only turns out to be half a good game, that's more than Sonic usually gives us these days, and I'd really like to see Sega's new "give it to Christian Whitehead and let him do whatever he wants" strategy get rewarded.

290 issues is a fucking breathtaking run for any comic, let alone a licensed one, let alone a licensed one based on a video game. (In fact, since Archie rebooted with a new #1 a few years ago, Sonic has been the longest-running series that still maintained its original numbering.)